Graham Chapman [1941 - 1989]

Graham Chapman wasn't the oldest member of the British surrealist comedy group "Monty Python," but he was the first of the six members to pass away, back in 1989, at the young age of 48. Terry Jones would follow him in death on January 21, 2020, but all of the others are happily still with us.

Why do I bring this up in February of 2026? Because just a few days ago, I finally completed my project of getting images of all six asteroids named after Monty Python members. It took me nearly four years to get them all. Ironically, asteroid (9617) Grahamchapman was the last of the six that I shot.

All six asteroids were discovered by the Uppsala-ESO Survey at La Silla. The first four asteroids named for Monty Python members were discovered on the same night: March 17, 1993. The final two were discovered a few nights later, on March 21, 1993.

The asteroids named after the Monty Python Six are as follows:

(9617) Grahamchapman
(9618) Johncleese
(9619) Terrygilliam
(9620) Ericidle
(9621) Machaelpalin
(9622) Terryjones

As I mentioned in my Long time ago when we was fab post, it is the discoverers of asteroids who are the ones that get to name them. In the old days, rare indeed was the occasion that anybody discovered six numbered asteroids in a row! Competition was steep, and asteroid discoveries were few and far between. 

Today, the Vera Rubin Observatory is poised to change all of that. According to its website, the Vera Rubin Observatory will be imaging the entire night sky (well, limited by the amount of sky it can image from its latitude) "every few nights." I expect that it will discover more supernovae and asteroids than any other observatory in the world, opening up the possibilities for consecutively numbered asteroids to be named after large groups of people, places, and things.

Be that as it may, the La Silla Observatory managed to grab "six in a row" asteroid discoveries back in 1993, and that's how the Monty Python Six were able to get consecutive asteroid numbers.

I shot my first Monty Python asteroid in November of 2022. It was (9621) Michaelpalin. I caught it accidentally while taking a picture of a pair of asteroids, (419) Aurelia and (478) Tergeste, that were easy (bright) targets and fairly close together on that night. When I made the GIF animation of those two, I noticed a third asteroid in the field that was a lot dimmer. So, I looked it up and discovered it was (9621) Michaelpalin, named for one of the members of Monty Python. Only then did I find out that there were six consecutive asteroid numbers named for the six members of Monty Python. 

I thought briefly about the possibility of going after the other 5, but I didn't actually commit myself to the challenge at that time. I checked the JPL website and saw that I couldn't get the next one until 2024. Somehow, I managed to remember, and in December of 2024, I shot (9618) Johncleese and (9619) Terrygilliam (the only American member of Monty Python). Now that I had three of them, I was motivated to get the rest, even though I knew it would take until February of 2026.

Long-term projects like this aren't easy. You have to set reminders and stay focused. And along the way you know that it's not something you're going to get an award for accomplishing. Even so, there's personal satisfaction in the end, because you remember the journey. 

And, come on! It's just plain fun to say, "Hey, Monty Python! Here's a glimpse of your asteroids that you probably never got to see!"


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